Stressed out crab

[Joanna's eggs]

I adopted a PP from a pet store who they claimed had not come out of his shell for the last two weeks. He didn't smell and was holding himself tightly in his shell; that combined with the pieces of exoskeleton they found in his tank I'm assuming his molt was probably interrupted and he is super stressed out. That was two weeks ago and I've since isolated him in a dark and humid isolation tank, but he has still shown no signs of de-stressing. Would my best course of action be to continue to wait? Or are there other steps I should be taking to help him de-stress and come out of his shell?

[megmaholm]

It does sound like he's super stressed, which is common with crabs purchased from the pet store. Have you seen him moving around at all? I know it's hard to just leave him alone, but if it's post-purchase syndrome the best thing to do is to continue to leave him alone. I would offer him healthy, high-energy foods like honey, peanut butter, sweet fruits, etc. and just try to be patient. If you can fill out this template we can go over it and see if we can offer some other suggestions Keep us updated on the little guy.

[Rebecca C]

Hello Joanna,

You should keep him in the isolation tank and make sure to have food and both fresh and salt water dishes available to him. You could put a little honey on a Q-tip and place it near him, this might entice him and if he eats the honey, it should give him some energy to move around a little and take care of himself. Other than that, you do not want to handle him at all. Unfortunately, it sounds like he is suffering from PPS, or post-purchase syndrome, or recovering from a bad molt, and there may not be anything that you can do other than what you are doing already. I really hope he pulls through for you, though.

[singlemomwithcrab]

You could also try some SUPER stinky food like sardines in olive oil.